April 23, 2015

Case management services cover a wide range of services from
foster care to hospice care. However, the two most widely recognized areas of
case management are mental health (MH) and intellectual disability (ID) case
management. Both MH and ID case management provide the basic functions of
linking clients to community resources, coordinating services, and monitoring
services. Both require a minimum of an undergraduate degree in psychology,
counseling, or a human service related discipline as well as some experience in
the field. However, there are some subtle and not so subtle differences in the
way the case management services are provided.

Mental Health Case
Management

1. Mental health case managers work with children with
emotional and behavioral problems that are not diagnosed with intellectual
disability. They also work with adults diagnosed with mental illness. They
often work with clientele that are also dually diagnosed with mental illness as
well as substance abuse.

2. Mental health case managers tend to be more active in the
therapy and medication management services due to the tendency to be
non-compliant. Mental health case managers provide an additional counseling
component by encouraging clients to take participate in counseling and take
medication as prescribed.

3. Mental health case management services tend to be short
term and clients are usually discharged when they are considered stable and not
in need of active case management.

Intellectual
Disabilities Case Management

1. ID case managers work with children who have been
diagnosed with an intellectual disability. Intellectual disability is defined
as having an IQ of 70 or below. Intellectual disability is categorized under
four levels: Mild (IQ 50-70, Moderate (IQ 35-49), Severe (20-34), and Profound
(IQ less than 20).

2. Unlike mental health case management, ID case managers
usually provide services to clients who have both mental health an intellectual
disabilities. Even in situations when the mental health disability is dominant,
any diagnosis of intellectual disability is usually handled by an ID case manager.

ID case managers also work with people who also on the
Autism Spectrum and have an intellectual disability. People who are on the
autism spectrum are diagnosed with Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, or Pervasive
Developmental Disorder.

3. Intellectual disability is a permanent disability
requiring long-term support. ID case managers maintain cases for years (even
decades) and rarely discharge clients unless they move out of the area or pass
away.

4. Intellectual disability is more likely to be accompanied by significant medical issues such as seizure disorder, cerebral palsy, and
Down syndrome. ID
case managers also tend to have clients who are non-verbal or have difficulty
communicating their needs. In some cases of severe and profound intellectual disability,
complete total care is needed to complete all daily living activities such as
feeding, bathing, and getting dressed. This
requires more emphasis on monitoring for health and safety.